South America

A final accord on Argentina’s debt with the Paris Club group of creditors could take months to negotiate and wouldn’t place the country’s economic growth and social programs at risk, Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said, Bloomberg reported. Kicillof, presented a proposal to Paris Club Chairman Ramon Fernandez in the French capital yesterday. Officials from the group’s 19 countries will discuss the offer tomorrow, Kicillof said at a press conference in Buenos Aires today. He declined to give details of the plan.

Bankrupt oil company Oleo e Gas Participações S.A., controlled by Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, said on Tuesday it signed a deal for a bridge loan of up to $50 million to finance operations as it works with creditors to restructure its debts, Reuters reported. Obtaining the loans was one of the requirement in an agreement the company reached with bond holders on Dec. 24 to convert Oleo e Gas debt into stock. Oleo e Gas was formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA.

What the US Supreme Court decides in a key court case involving Argentina and its bondholders will greatly impact how sovereign debt restructuring is done in the future, the BBC reported. The essence of the decade-long lawsuit between the country and a handful of its creditors is: Can bondholders demand full repayment of what they lent to a country even when others have settled for a haircut? Argentina's 2002 default of around $100bn (£61bn) was the largest at the time, until Greece's around 200bn euros debt restructuring.

Global regulators have watered down controversial new rules aimed at reining in banks’ reliance on debt, following ferocious industry lobbying, the Financial Times reported. Central bankers and supervisors on Sunday approved an international standard for the leverage ratio – a measure of financial strength that is considered less susceptible to being gamed by bankers – that offers some concessions to banks. The changes announced in Basel, Switzerland, will come as a relief to big investment banks who had been fretting they would be forced to raise billions in extra capital.

Brazil's oil regulator ANP extended until January 24 a deadline for businessman Eike Batista's bankrupt Oleo e Gas Participações S.A. to show that it has the financial viability required to hold on to off-shore concessions, the company said on Friday, Reuters reported. The company, formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participações S.A., filed Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy protection petition on Oct. 30. It had requested more time to fend off creditors and shore up its finances through its operating contracts and concessions.

Óleo e Gás Participações SA, Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista's oil company, said on Thursday it paid off part of the debt related to the development costs for two offshore oil fields, Reuters reported. The company, formerly known as OGX, paid the first installment of a past-due debt worth 73 million reais ($30.5 million) related to the fields of Atlanta and Oliva in Brazil's Santos basin, a company spokeswoman said. Óleo e Gás filed for Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy protection petition on Oct. 30.

As Spain's economy begins to recover from a near-fatal crisis, Latin American companies and entrepreneurs are ahead of the pack in gaining a foothold from which they can grab a share of the spoils, Reuters reported. Mexicans, Venezuelans and others have moved into areas such as banking, travel, food and other consumer-orientated sectors. Investors from Spain's former colonies are also snapping up financially strained firms in "the Mother County" in need of liquidity boosts.

Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista's Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA promised in a securities filing on Thursday to honor its debts in two offshore oil fields with the financial resources it obtained from an agreement with creditors last week, Reuters reported. QGEP Participações SA, Oleo e Gas's partner, said on Monday that the company, formerly known as OGX, could lose its 40 percent stake in the Atlanta and Oliva fields in Brazil's Santos Basin if it fails to pay its share of development costs.

Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA risks losing its 40 percent stake in the Atlanta and Oliva fields in Brazil's Santos Basin for failure to pay its share of development costs, its partner, QGEP Participações SA, said on Monday. Oleo e Gas, formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA, has been ordered to show its financial obligations in the fields, part of the BS-4 offshore concession, are up to date, according to a note from Brazil's oil regulator ANP, dated Dec. 23, QGEP said in a securities filing, Reuters reported.

OSX Brasil SA will take a 7.0 percent stake in sister company Óleo e Gás Participações SA after agreeing to convert $1.5 billion of debt into stock, a step key to help the ailing oil producer exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported today. The debt stems from the termination of several contracts to lease oil production ships to Óleo e Gás, which filed for court protection on Oct. 30 and was formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA, OSX said in a securities filing late on Wednesday. Both companies are controlled by tycoon Eike Batista's Grupo EBX.